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What the Data Shows About Employer Perceptions of Online Degrees

Let's start with a question that largely gets ignored in the conversation about online vs. in-person degrees: If I have an online degree, will I get paid the same as a person who earned their degree on-campus?

A 2023 survey of 255 employers found that they paid the same starting salary to their new hires, regardless of whether they earned their degrees online or in-person [2]. The same survey found that over 87% of employers who tracked how their applicants earned their degrees (online or on-campus) have hired graduates with online degrees. On top of that, the percentage of employers who screen candidates by GPA has fallen from 70% in 2016 to less than 40% today.

What does all this mean? It shows that the focus on credentials, which used to make college pedigree and prestige so important, has been declining for years. It also means that once you get hired, you're likely to get paid the same regardless of how you earned your degree.

Another study published in May 2026 ran what's called a "discrete choice experiment" in which 543 recruiters and hiring managers looked at pairs of hypothetical job applicants and chose which ones they'd interview [1]. What the study participants weren't told was that the study was about online degrees. The idea was to make sure there weren't any biases carried into the study, because let's face it, many people will say they're more open-minded than they actually are.

The result is that switching a candidate's degree from in-person to online dropped their likelihood of getting an interview by 2.5%. That might not sound like much, but it's considered statistically significant. However, when the researchers calculated what that means for a typical job search — say, a candidate who submits 40 applications — that number dropped down to 0.5%, a difference most job seekers won't even notice.

What Employers Are Actually Looking for in Your Degree

So, if it doesn't really matter whether you earned your degree online or in-person, and if hiring managers aren't looking at things like your GPA, is there anything important about your degree beyond your field of study? Of course there is, and to help us understand what, let's look at another recent study.

Research conducted in 2025 studied how HR managers evaluate credentials by varying the educational background on fictional resumes, then seeing how the managers' assessments changed [3]. Rather than looking at credentials as an indication of what an applicant learned and how they learned it, the research found that employers cared most about the personal characteristics signalled by earning a degree — things like perseverance, commitment, and cognitive ability. In fact, up to 75% of the advantage that comes from holding an advanced degree could come from an employer's beliefs about those characteristics, not what the degree says about technical expertise.

What this means for those considering an online degree is huge. If hiring managers are primarily looking at your degree as a signal about your follow-through and work ethic, then an accredited online degree sends the same signal as an in-person one. And some would argue that online degrees send an even stronger signal, as they require a level of self-discipline that on-campus programs, with their built-in structure and accountability, don't demand in the same way.

The Perception Gap Between Online and On-Campus Degrees

To this point, the research lays out a pretty compelling case for why it doesn't matter whether you earned your degree online or in-person. But remember how one study showed that online degree-holders were 2.5% less likely to get interviewed? That number changes based on the career field you're trying to get into, so let's look at some examples of where the 2.5% gap matters and where it doesn't. 

*Among employers recruiting for graduate business roles (MBAs and business master's degrees). Source: GMAC Corporate Recruiters Survey 2025 [4].

Source: Ithaka S+R, Examining Employers' Perceptions of Online Credentials [1], except where noted.

Where the Gap Matters Least

As shown in the table, online degree holders pursuing careers in industries like business, health care, and education — fields where online degrees are well-established [5] — are just as likely to be interviewed as traditional degree-holders. It's not a big surprise, then, that these are some of the most common destinations for online learners. If your desired career is in one of these fields, it's much less likely to matter whether you earned your degree online or in person.

The tech sector shows some similar patterns. Among tech employers recruiting for graduate business roles, where the most common credentials are MBAs and other business master's degrees, 57% said they value online and in-person graduates equally [4]. While this data point only speaks to graduate business education rather than all online credentials in tech, the rise of alternate learning environments like bootcamps has reduced any stigmas around how you learned what you know, as long as you can demonstrate the skills needed to perform the role you're being hired for.

Where the Gap Matters Most

At the other end of the spectrum are fields where online degrees are less common. If you're trying to get into a field where online pathways are new or very limited, like architecture or law, the gap grows to 3.9% [1]. Again, a small number that doesn't sound like much. But if you know you want to follow one of these career paths, it's worth finding out what employers in your chosen field think of online degrees.

Another thing that can matter is institutional familiarity. Not prestige, but familiarity. The biggest gap in whether an applicant was likely to get an interview wasn't between online and in-person degrees from the same college  — it came from online degrees issued by out-of-state public institutions, where the difference grew to 4.7% [1]. The researchers attributed this to recognition: Hiring managers consider schools they're familiar with to be more credible than schools they aren't familiar with, regardless of accreditation status. 

That's not to diminish accreditation in these situations. An online degree from an institution that has trouble staying accredited or holds no accreditation carries employer risks that have nothing to do with the online format. Accreditation ensures a baseline of quality that is absent without it, which may be why institutional accreditation from a recognized organization is such a strong indicator to employers. In any case, recognition and accreditation can both impact how employers perceive your degree.

One more thing worth noting is that in most instances, standard resume or CV practice doesn't require you to disclose that your degree was earned online, and most accredited institutions issue the exact same diploma and transcript for online and on-campus students. However, if you're pursuing a career in a field where online degrees are less common, you may want to be wary of schools known for granting only or mostly online degrees, as they could give away your degree format.

What This Means When You're Choosing a Program

When you're deciding what type of program to enroll in, the research points to the following considerations:

Where the Trend Is Headed

How employers feel about online degrees has been trending towards greater acceptance for the better part of a decade. The pandemic sped this acceptance up by removing some of the most persistent objections — that online learning couldn't duplicate the development of in-person education, and that online students wouldn't be disciplined enough to do their best. Both of these objections have been overcome, resulting in an expanding universe of online degree program availability.

On top of that, the labor market has also shifted away from prioritizing degrees and moved towards skills-based evaluation, as noted by the decline in employers who consider GPA when hiring. As employers put more emphasis on demonstrated skills and relevant experience, how you earned your degree will matter less and less.

The main question we're trying to answer here — will an online degree hurt my career chances? — still doesn't have a black and white answer. For most fields, if your degree was issued by an accredited institution, it probably won't matter if your degree was earned online or in person. For certain fields, it very well could matter. But at least now you know some of the conditions that can sway that answer one way or the other, giving you the agency to make a more informed decision about your future.

Frequently Asked Questions

Research Notes

This article draws on the following sources:

[1] (May 2026), conducted by Ithaka S+R.
This study used a discrete choice experiment in which 543 professional recruiters and hiring managers evaluated pairs of hypothetical candidates without knowing that their perception of online credentials was being studied. The study was supported by the Strada Education Foundation and the Joyce Foundation.

[2] (November 2023), conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
This study surveyed 255 employer respondents, skewing toward large for-profit companies. This study was the first edition of NACE's annual survey to include questions specifically about online degree hiring and compensation practices.

[3] (August 2025), conducted by Stans, Ehrmantraut, Siemers & Pinger and published in The Economic Journal.
This is a peer-reviewed study of HR managers cited here for its recent finding of what credentials signal to hiring managers. The study was conducted in Germany, using the German higher education system and German HR managers; its conclusions are referenced here for explanatory context rather than for U.S.-specific figures. The framework we reference — that credentials are primarily considered to be signals of underlying traits rather than evidence of acquired skills — was first formalized by economist Michael Spence in a 1973 paper and remains a foundational concept in the economics of education.

[4] (July 2025), conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council.
This study surveyed 1,108 corporate recruiters across 46 countries about the recruiting and hiring practices of graduate candidates. Figures cited from this source are specific to graduate business education and are not used as a general employer perception source for undergraduate online credentials. 

[5] Field distribution data comes from the U.S. Department of Education's (IPEDS), 2024 Completions survey.
Original data analysis looking at bachelor's degree completions in Business (CIP 52), Health Professions (CIP 51), and Education (CIP 13) for the six largest online institutions by enrollment: Western Governors University, Southern New Hampshire University, Grand Canyon University, University of Phoenix, Liberty University, and University of Maryland Global Campus. Across these six institutions, these three fields accounted for 56.3% of all bachelor's degrees awarded — Business at 29.5%, Health at 18.3%, and Education at 8.5%. This data supports the characterization of business, health care, and education as the fields where online degrees are most common; it reflects the distribution at the largest online institutions specifically and is not a national figure across all online programs.